This invention relates to the field of communications and more particularly to a sound reinforcement system for providing improved effective communication between individuals such as in a large meeting or corporate boardroom.
It is not uncommon for conference or meeting rooms of large corporations, law offices, government agencies and other business and service organizations to be quite large and contain tables about which may be seated from 6 to 20 or more people. Due to the size of such conference tables and the number of individuals involved, communication between individuals located at positions other than those directly adjacent or opposite one another becomes extremely difficult. For example, a rectangular conference table seating 16 people, such as may be required for the boardroom of a medium-sized corporation, may easily be of a length of 24 feet or more with the result that individuals located at extreme end positions of the table find it difficult to communicate with one another without raising their voices above normal conversational level. Not only does the distance between the individuals who wish to communicate pose a problem, but also the level of surrounding noise due to conversations carried on by other individuals may make hearing difficult. As a consequence, much communication is either lost or misunderstood or not undertaken at all. Alternatively, individuals may raise their voices to the level of shouting with the result that meetings may become disordered and individuals frustrated with their inability to effectively converse with others who are to participate in the meeting.
A straight forward solution to the foregoing problem involves amplifying the voices of the meeting participants by placing individual microphones at participant locations. While this may eliminate the need for raising voices beyond the normal conversational level, and the frustration associated therewith, it presents certain technical difficulties which prevent troublefree effective communication. Thus, with such an arrangement an amplified voice coming from a speaker located in proximity to the microphone picking up the voice signal will interfere with the unamplified voice so as to prevent effective amplification in that area and result in the difficulty known as feedback due to the amplified voice being picked up by the microphone and reamplified. In addition, the production of simultaneous sound as from several individuals speaking or laughing at once produces an unpleasant result when picked up and amplified over the system. Consequently, such a system still provides drawbacks which makes it undesirable where effective trouble free communication without annoying interferences is desired.